14 Resolving Failed BRM-Initiated Payment Transactions

This chapter describes how to resolve failed credit card and direct debit transactions in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management (BRM) for Paymentech.

For information about the utilities used for resolving BRM-initiated payment transactions, see "pin_clean" and "pin_recover".

About Failed BRM-Initiated Payment Transactions

Failed credit card or direct debit payment transactions occur when BRM connects to a credit card processor, sends a transaction, but does not get confirmation from the credit card processor that the transaction was completed. This is usually caused by a connection loss.

BRM identifies failed transactions by keeping a record of each transaction in the BRM database. If BRM does not get confirmation that the clearing house (Paymentech) received the transaction successfully, checkpoint records are left in the database. To resolve failed transactions, you must resolve all checkpoint records. Transactions usually have a checkpoint record for the following reasons:

A transaction batch was received by the credit card processor, but it wasn't processed completely. To resolve this error, you must resubmit the transaction batch.

A transaction was processed by the credit card processor, but the connection was lost before BRM received the results. To resolve this error, you must update the checkpoints in the BRM database.

Note:

If the payment processor is offline or too busy to handle your transactions, BRM records a no-answer (1) record. You do not need to resolve no-answer records.

BRM includes two utilities that you use to resolve failed BRM-initiated payment transactions, "pin_recover" and "pin_clean". To resolve a failed BRM-initiated payment transaction, you first run the pin_clean utility to see if there are any errors. If there are, the method you use for resolving the error depends on the type of transaction. For example, you follow a different procedure for resolving a failed verification than you do for resolving a failed authorization. See "Types of Failed Credit Card Transactions".

How BRM Records Transactions

Before BRM connects to the credit card processor, a table row with the value 999 is inserted in the database. This value remains in the row until BRM processes the result from the Paymentech credit card processor. BRM first sets the result field to the number 1000, plus the Paymentech result code. When BRM begins processing the payment, it resets the result value to the Paymentech result code. If the transactions are completed successfully: regardless of whether the credit card charge was successful: the result column will not have any values over 999.

The following Paymentech result codes are used by BRM:

PASS = 0

FAIL_NO_ANS = 1

FAIL_ADDR_AVS = 2

FAIL_ADDR_LOC = 3

FAIL_ADDR_ZIP = 4

FAIL_CARD_BAD = 5

SRVC_UNAVAIL = 6

FAIL_DECL_SOFT = 7

FAIL_DECL_HARD = 8

FAIL_NO_MIN = 9

INVALID_CMD = 10

FAIL_SELECT_ITEMS = 11

CVV_BAD = 12

NO_CREDIT_BALANCE = 13

FAIL_LOGICAL_PROBLEM = 14

FAIL_FORMAT_ERROR = 15

FAIL_INVALID_CONTENT = 16

FAIL_TECHNICAL_PROBLEM = 17

DEPOSIT_PENDING = 777

AUTH_PENDING = 888

CHECKPOINT = 999

OFFSET = 1000

Failed credit card transactions (checkpoint value of 999) are not collected by pin_collect or PCM_OP_BILL_COLLECT to avoid double charges. Such results indicate a communication problem between Paymentech and BRM.

The connection was lost during an online transaction such as registration, or a one-time charge to a single account.

Delete the transaction record from the BRM database. If necessary, repeat the transaction; for example, use Customer Center to charge the account again. Because the transaction was for an authorization, not for a payment, the customer cannot be charged twice. See "Resolving Authorizations".

Deleting Failed Verifications

Because no charge was authorized or made during a verification, you can delete all failed verification transactions. There is no need to resubmit a verification.

Run the "pin_clean" utility without the summary option to display unresolved transaction records:

pin_clean

The pin_clean utility is in BRM_Home/bin.

A summary of transaction errors appears, followed by a choice of commands.

To display the transactions for verifications, press 1.

When you display a type of transaction, a list of batches appears, followed by a list of commands.

To delete all verification transaction records, press 2.

Note:

You should delete records with a value greater than 999 when you want to recharge an account by using pin_collect. (The pin_clean utility only processes payments with checkpoint records = 999.) This deletes the /event/billing/charge object and the appropriate rows in the EVENT_T, EVENT_BILLING_CHARGE_T, and EVENT_BILLING_CHARGE_CC_T tables.

To quit, press 3.

Resolving Authorizations

To resolve failed authorizations, you can delete all transactions, but you must find out which transactions must be resubmitted. For example, if a customer service representative (CSR) issues a debit in Customer Center, and that transaction fails, you must reissue the debit after deleting the checkpoint record.

Run the "pin_clean" utility without the summary option to display unresolved transaction records:

pin_clean

The pin_clean utility is in BRM_Home/bin.

A summary of transaction errors appears, followed by a choice of commands.

To display the transactions for authorizations, press 2.

A list of transactions appears, followed by a list of commands.

To display a single transaction record, press 1.

Enter the number of the transaction.

The event details appear.

Read the event details to find out if this is an event you want to repeat. For example:

The event description. The following example is for credit card transactions.

0 PIN_FLD_SYS_DESCR STR [0] "Authorization"

The account number:

0 PIN_FLD_ACCOUNT_OBJ POID [0] 0.0.0.1 /account 28456 0

The amount:

0 PIN_FLD_AMOUNT NUM [0] 100.000000

The date and time:

0 PIN_FLD_CREATED_T TSTAMP [0] (827435459) Thu Mar 21 11:10:59 1996

Make a note of the amount and the account number so that you can repeat the transaction later.

To delete the checkpoint, press 1.

Continue displaying and deleting checkpoints until all authorization checkpoints are deleted.

To return to the summary screen, press 2.

To quit, press 3.

Repeat the transactions that you recorded.

Resolving Refunds

To resolve failed refunds, you can delete all transactions, but you must find out which transactions must be resubmitted.

If there is a checkpoint, there is no original refund. You can resubmit the refund.

Run the "pin_clean" utility without the summary option to display unresolved transaction records:

pin_clean

The pin_clean utility is in BRM_Home/bin.

A summary of transaction errors appears, followed by a choice of commands.

To display the transactions for refunds, press 5.

A list of transactions appears, followed by a list of commands.

To display a single transaction record, press 1.

Enter the number of the transaction.

The event details appear.

Read the event details to find out if this is an event you want to repeat. For example:

The event description:

0 PIN_FLD_SYS_DESCR STR [0] "Refund"

The account number:

0 PIN_FLD_ACCOUNT_OBJ POID [0] 0.0.0.1 /account 28456 0

The amount:

0 PIN_FLD_AMOUNT NUM [0] 10.000000

The date and time:

0 PIN_FLD_CREATED_T TSTAMP [0] (827435459) Thu Mar 21 11:10:59 1996

Make a note of the amount, date, and the account number so that you can repeat the action, if necessary.

To delete the checkpoint, press 1.

Continue displaying and deleting checkpoints until all refund checkpoints are deleted.

To return to the summary screen, press 2.

To quit, press 3.

Find out if the refund was made. Use the Event Browser to search for the refund.

If the refund was made, you're finished. If the refund was not made, issue the refund again.

Resubmitting Transactions

Caution:

If you use a payment processor other than Paymentech, ensure that it uses duplicate transaction detection. If not, using the "pin_recover" utility with the resubmit option can cause customers to be billed twice. The duplicate transaction detection offered by Paymentech eliminates this problem.

If running the pin_recover utility with the rfr option does not resolve all transactions, run the pin_recover utility with the resubmit option to resubmit the same batch and process the transactions that didn't go through.

Important:

Resubmit your transactions promptly, or the authorizations might need to be redone. VISA authorizations, for example, last only seven days.

To run the "pin_recover" utility with the resubmit option, you must find the batch ID for the batch you are resubmitting. To do so, run the "pin_clean" utility in summary mode again:

pin_clean -summary

The pin_clean utility is in BRM_Home/bin.

A summary of transaction errors appears, followed by a choice of commands. For example:

Press 3 to display transactions made by running the "pin_collect" utility.

Press 4 to display transactions made by running the "pin_deposit" utility.

A list of batches appears.

Make a note of the batch ID that you want to resubmit (for example T,2f).

Note:

When resubmitting deposits, each transaction has two transaction IDs, one for the original authorization, and one for the deposit batch sent by the pin_deposit utility. Use the batch ID that was used by the pin_deposit utility.

Press 3 to quit the pin_clean utility.

Run the "pin_recover" utility with the resubmit option to resubmit the unprocessed transactions. The pin_recover utility is in BRM_Home/bin.

pin_recover -resubmit batch_ID

For example:

pin_recover -resubmit T,2f

Run the pin_clean utility in summary mode again. If you still find transaction errors, refer to "Deleting Transactions".

Checking for Transactions in Paymentech Send Files

If there are still checkpoint records after using the "pin_recover" utility with the rfr and resubmit options, you can search the Paymentech send files to find out if the transaction was sent to Paymentech, located by default in /fusa_temp. (You define the location of the send files in the temp_dir Paymentech Data Manager (DM) configuration file entry.)

There will probably be multiple files. Find the file that matches the date of the transaction. Open the file in a text editor and search for the batch ID that was reported by the "pin_clean" utility. If the batch ID is not present in any file, the connection was broken between the Connection Manager (CM) and the DM, and the transaction was never sent.

If the transaction is a deposit, you should search the database to find outstanding deposits. To do so, use the testnap utility to search for authorization records with no matching deposit record. See "Testing Your Applications and Custom Modules" in BRM Developer's Guide.

Resolving Payments

In rare cases, a credit card charge is made and the checkpoint record is cleared, but the /event/billing/payment object is not recorded in the BRM database. This might happen because of a network or hardware failure.

To create the objects, rows are inserted into the EVENT_T and EVENT_BILLING_PAYMENT_T database tables. If the payment item does not exist for the bill, a row is also inserted into the ITEM_T database table. If possible, the money is allocated to open items; however, you may need to manually allocate the payment.

When a payment recovery was successful, the Event Browser displays the message, ”Payment - Thank you” and the EVENT_BILLING_PAYMENT_CC_T value = 0.

Resolving Payments for Custom Pay Types

To resolve payments for custom pay types, you must perform additional configuration steps before you run the pin_recover utility with the recover_payment option for the first time.

To resolve payments for custom pay types:

Customize the PCM_OP_PYMT_POL_CHARGE policy opcode to perform the following when it processes your custom pay type:

In the policy opcode's output flist, set the PIN_FLD_BATCH_INFO.PIN_FLD_RESULT field to PIN_CHARGE_RES_OFFSET.

Update your custom /event/billing/charge/* subclass by setting its PIN_FLD_CHARGE.PIN_FLD_RESULT field to 1000 (PIN_CHARGE_RES_OFFSET).

Go to the BRM_Home/apps/pin_billd directory.

Open the pin.conf file in a text editor.

Add the following line for each custom pay type:

- pin_recover config_paymentpaymentPOID

where paymentPOID is the POID of your /config/payment object.

For example:

- pin_recover config_payment 0.0.0.1 /config/payment 200

Deleting Transactions

Important:

Deleting transactions is typically only used for failed verification and authorization transactions. Always use the "pin_recover" utility first to resolve transactions submitted by the "pin_collect" and "pin_deposit" utilities. Only delete and resubmit pin_collect and pin_deposit transactions as a last resort.

Run the "pin_clean" utility without the summary option to display any remaining unresolved transaction records:

pin_clean

The pin_clean utility is in BRM_Home/bin.

A summary of transaction errors appears, followed by a choice of commands.

Press the key that corresponds to the command you want to perform. For example, press 3 to display transactions made by running the pin_collect utility.

Do not delete condition or deposit records until you know that the corresponding charge was successful. Do not delete records that are less than seven days old.

If you delete checkpoints for failed condition or deposit records that are created within the duplicate detection period, customers might be charged twice, because BRM resubmits these records.

The length of time for charges to be processed depends on the payment processor. Check with your payment processor.

Make a note of the batch IDs that you must delete. You will need them when you resubmit the batches.

Press the key that corresponds to the command you want to perform; for example, press 2 to delete all transaction records.

When there is more than one record per transaction type, you can display each record and delete it, or you can delete all records of that type without displaying them.

When you have deleted all of the transactions that must be resubmitted, quit the utility.

Use the pin_recover utility to resubmit the batch.

pin_recover -resubmit T,2a

The pin_recover utility is in BRM_Home/bin.

Troubleshooting Unresolvable Credit Card Transactions

This section lists problems you might encounter while trying to resolve failed credit card transactions and provides information on how to fix them.

Unable to remove checkpoints when using an RFR file

If checkpoints still exist after running the pin_recover utility, resubmit the batch. See "Resubmitting Transactions" for more information.

Note:

Paymentech has duplicate transaction detection, which prevents a customer from being charged twice.

If resubmitting the batch does not clear the checkpoints, do the following:

Delete the transactions.

Run the pin_recover utility with the resubmit option.

Run the pin_clean utility with the summary option to select and delete batches. Be sure to note the batch ID.

Run the pin_recover utility with the -resubmit option and provide the batch ID.

Checkpoints are Cleared but Payment Events Are Not Created

Look in the database for checkpoints with a value of 1000. If they exist, run the pin_recover utility with the recover_payment option.

Note:

The pin_clean utility does not show charges that have checkpoint values greater than 999.

Important:

You should only use this option when a credit card number is reported as charged in both BRM and Paymentech, but it has not been recorded as paid in BRM. This is an uncommon scenario that can occur when the network connection is dropped after Paymentech responds and before BRM allocates the payment.

To create the objects, rows are inserted into the EVENT_T and EVENT_BILLING_PAYMENT_T database tables. If the payment item does not exist for the bill, a row is also inserted into the ITEM_T database table. If possible, the money is allocated to open items; however, you may need to manually allocate the payment.

When a payment recovery was successful, the Event Browser displays the message, ”Payment - Thank you” and the EVENT_BILLING_PAYMENT_CC_T value = 0.

Paymentech does not have an RFR file and never received the payment batch

If you requested an RFR file from Paymentech and one does not exist, run the pin_recover utility with the -resubmit option and provide the batch ID. See "Resubmitting Transactions" for more information.

If Paymentech confirms they received the batch but checkpoints still exist, request an RFR file and run the pin_recover utility with the rfr option.

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